Mitch Fifield

Biography

Senator the Hon Mitch Fifield was sworn in as Senator for Victoria in the Australian Parliament on 1 April 2004 and re-elected at the 2007, 2013 and 2016 elections.

Mitch was first appointed as the Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts on 21 September 2015, and reappointed on 19 July 2016.

Mitch also serves as a member of the Prime Minister's Leadership Group and the Senate leadership team, as Manager of Government Business in the Senate.

Senator Fifield previously served in the social services portfolio as minister for disabilities and ageing.

Before entering Parliament, Mitch worked as a senior political adviser to the former Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, and held senior advisory positions in the Victorian Kennett and New South Wales Greiner governments. Mitch has served as a reservist in the Australian Army Psychology Corps and studied politics at Sydney University.

Mitch was an Ambassador for the not-for-profit school music organisation The Song Room and was an Advisory Board Member for the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project for indigenous students. Mitch was a founding director and is the current chair of the Sir Paul Hasluck Foundation.

You are here

ABC/SBS Competitive Neutrality Inquiry Released

12 December 2018

Share via

An independent panel made up of eminent Australians has found the ABC and SBS are meeting their competitive neutrality obligations, but recommended they be more open about their competitive activities.

Minister for Communications and the Arts Mitch Fifield today released the expert panel’s report on the inquiry into the competitive neutrality of Australia’s national broadcasters.

“The panel recognised all media organisations are operating in an environment of heighted competitive pressure, driven by changes in the way audiences engage and the entry of global companies into the Australian media market,” Minister Fifield said.

The panel found the national broadcasters are applying a ‘best endeavours’ approach to meet competitive neutrality requirements but recommended they improve their transparency, reporting and other processes relating to their competitive activities and Charter performance.

The panel also noted the ABC and SBS Boards should give greater guidance on how they take account of other media market participants.

Minister Fifield said he recognised that the Charters of the national broadcasters are broad and allow flexibility in how they are implemented by the respective Boards.

"It is now up to the national broadcasters to act on these recommendations,” he said.

Earlier this year the Government appointed Robert Kerr (former head of office at the Productivity Commission), Julie Flynn (former CEO of Free TV) and Sandra Levy AO (former Director of ABC TV) to undertake the inquiry and determine whether the national broadcasters are operating in a manner consistent with the general principles of competitive neutrality, as defined by the Commonwealth Competitive Neutrality Policy.

The inquiry received a total of 6,839 submissions from members of the public, commercial media, industry stakeholders and the national broadcasters themselves.